Cooking With Fire

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40000592

And there it stands. Still a lot of work to do, but there will be grilling this weekend!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/39806045

Help scheduled for wednesday to lift in the kamado. I left the front beam and breads out for now so we don't have to lift it that high.

The far right has no table top, there i'm gonna place a concrete slab with a castiron grid. Under it will be space for brikettes and my dutch oven(s)/skillets can be placed on the cast iron grid

After several weekends and evenings of toiling my new BBQ setup is finally ready. Just in time for the thunderstorms!

First holiday rental BBQ of the year.

These are always an adventure, broken legs, crumbling gas pipes, spiders and snails in all the crevices...

In this case, it's not too bad, just lit the fire so we'll see if it explodes / melts...

And... just burgers, sausages and halloumi for this one, nothing too adventurous

The flatbread is from the shop, but everything else, including yogurt for the tzatziki, was home made from first principles.

My wife has made tzatziki for ages, but recently she started making it from home made yogurt. It’s been nothing short from a revelation.

Kebabs stayed on the skewers and none were lost to the fire gods. Result!

It's been at least three months since I wrapped up my Kamado Joe, and longer since I posted a cook. I'm hoping this year I might get around to a proper outdoor kitchen and will be able to cook in all weather.

How about the rest of you? Does anyone brave the elements in winter?

I did (not authentic 'cos I don't like fennel seeds) porcetta at the weekend for my lot and my wife's brother's family. A couple of notes: 1. that skin/crackling was an absolute flavour bomb, 2. the leftovers were disappointingly scant.

Album of progress.

Another month, another tiny grilling gif!

1 hour @ 250F on the smoker. Finished at 425 in the oven to crisp up. Gonna toss them in homemade buffalo sauce and serve with curly fries.

Chicken thighs marinaded overnight in:

• ¼ cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup white wine vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Cooked on a joetisserie on a Kamado Big Joe 3, then taken off the skewer, given a minute or so over direct flame to give a little colour all over and chopped.

Served with:

Spicy pickled red cabbage
Tabbouleh
Zhoug
Labneh

And a sort of Greekish salad.

Bonus picture, some bay leaves harvested from my bay tree, washed and drying for later.

https://www.menkind.co.uk/worlds-smallest-bbq it’s this one! (it's pretty tiny)

We went nature camping with this bad boy here:

we had spot 42!

I dry brined the wings overnight with a simple barbecue rub (salt, pepper, paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander seed, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard powder).

I brought the Kamado up to 180'C/350'F.

I put the wings on over a deflector for about half an hour then moved them over direct heat, turning frequently, for another ten to fifteen minutes.

Then I served them for saucing to individual taste (I like Buffalo, wife likes BBQ, daughter likes plain).

Cooked my first ever brisket.

17 pounds / 8kg from Costco, trimmed somewhat. I had found a charcoal/truffle rub in NZ that I mixed with fresh ground salt n pepper, applied a day before.

Cooked with pecan smoking chunks, at a (dome temp) temp of 275F (135C) for the first 4 hours then 300F(150C) for another 3.5 hours in the foil boat. Fat side up, with a Kickstarter Meater in the top. Wrapped in wax paper, then towel tight into an Esky for 3.5 hours to rest.

Served perfectly rendered fatty strips in time to see the ABs keep the Eden park record alive vs the pumas.

Learning: Next time won't use the fancy rub. I definitely would just use salt n pepper next time.

I filled the basket with a decent amount of charcoal chunks. It barely used any of that on the cook and cool after, could probably cook two more briskets back to back with what's left.

Gloves to handle the meat is way easier than trying to move a hot 7kg blob of meat.

Anyone considering giving this a go: it was way easier than I thought it would be. But you need enough people to help eat it. We tried with 4 and barely made a dent.

Dry brined then cooked low and slow (just around 100'c) for about two and a half hours (in a braising liquid made of mostly beer). Then finished over direct heat on the grill.

Then I got over excited and didn't take any more pictures.

They were ok - bought from Sainsbury's on a whim for about £5. Not that great in terms of meat/bone ratio, but good flavour.

I love barbecue but seem to know very little about it! I cook lots indoors but haven't had much practice outdoors or with big meat

To make sure my next BBQ goes better than the last: What are your favourite places (websites, YouTube channels, blogs, etc) to get barbecue advice/knowledge/ideas/inspiration?

Alternatively: what are your best pieces of advice for BBQ novices? :)

Thanks in advance!

Happy Father's day y'all. To celebrate I am doing a 9ish lb boston butt on my vision smoker with hickory chips and oak charcoal. Its been on for about 4 hours so far. I have some wings waiting on this lovely hunk of flavor to get closer to done so I can pull it and wrap it before getting the chicken on.

The weather has been kind this weekend, so I cleaned the BBQ and made ribs & wings.

A free-range chicken, seasoned with paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, white pepper, and cayenne.

A can of a fairly mild IPA shoved up its fundament (about a third of the can decanted into me first to prevent boilover).

Cooked at about 180'C in a Kamado cooker for roughly an hour and a half. The photo was taken at about the one hour mark.

Served with a creamy mac and cheese and a sharp, homemade coleslaw.

A nice end to the summer!

Smash burgers. Fantastic.

The best burger I’ve ever had was the Green Chilli Cheese burger from Meat Liquor. No matter what I do, I can’t quite match that perfection. Has anyone come close?

https://meatliquor.com/

Seasoned and air dried in the fridge overnight, except the tandoori wings which marinaded in spices and yoghurt.

On the Kamado Joe at 120'C for half an hour.

Then I opened the vents up to get to about 200'C and flipped several times for about another half an hour.

Once they were done, I took them off to rest and quickly grilled a couple of hotdogs for The Boy.

Meanwhile, I made up Buffalo and BBQ sauce and tossed some wings in each.

Bonebowl.

It's been a busy few weeks. Other than grilling the occasional bratwurst, I haven't been able to do much.

We needed an easy dinner tonight, so my wife prepped some stuffed peppers and brought a fairly thick ribeye home. While she got the peppers ready, I salted the ribeye and let it hang out in the fridge while I got the grill started. Last time I posted a steak, Hossenfeffer suggested a reverse sear, so that's what I did.

I got the egg up to 350ish F because that's what the peppers needed. I put the heat deflector in and gave the peppers a 15 minute head start. Then I prepped the thermometer and set a target of 120F. It took about 15min, which was fortunate because that's how much longer the peppers needed.

I wasn't prepared for how hideous the steak looked after 15min, but I soldiered through the horror and let it rest in a foil tent while I pulled the (very hot) heat deflector out and opened the vents all the way. Once I hit about 575F I opened the grill and threw the steak back on for 30s a side.

I'm pretty happy with the results. The peppers (with a cooked filling of mushrooms, hazelnut, and goat cheese) turned out great and went really well with the steak. Definitely trying both again. Thanks for the suggestion!

The filet marinated overnight in a mix of HP sauce, soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce. The file was in sous vide in 50 C for just over three hours and finalised on the coal BBQ. The end result was great if just a bit over cooked for what I was aiming for.

tasty end result